Publication Type: Individual PaperAbstract: A recent investigative report delivered by writers at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution exposed what appears to be widespread sexual abuse committed by medical professionals. The report suggests that the intellectual advantages and social prominence of well-heeled medical professionals provide them with special resources to commit an undetected series of attacks and to avoid or reduce punishment when they are ultimately apprehended. Thus, the story implies that medical sexual abuse and its control is shaped by money, power, and influence. Similarly, social constructionists argue that class and power shape debates, in part, through the manner in which the media frames social problems. The current study seeks to explore these issues by employing a qualitative approach to analyzing news reporting on doctor-rapists who drug their patients. Drawing from 27 sedation rape/assault media stories, we compare the media construction of doctor-administered drugging rapes to media treatments of stranger street attacks. We found that, compared to stranger street rapists, doctor-rapists are more likely to be referred to as intellectual, calculated and mechanical and their victims are more likely to be characterized as helpless and lacking in agency. Implications for studying the ways in which social class and power shape crime reporting are discussed.

Publication Type: Individual PaperAbstract: There are many victims of sexual violence who never seek help for their abuse. Through a radical feminist framework, this paper will explore and analyze the ways non-profit organizations, Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Services of Augusta and Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault (GNESA), address and help survivors of sexual violence speak out and heal. My paper will also offer suggestions to these organizations in order to better help and empower survivors by updating their services in light of newer radical feminist research.

Publication Type: Individual PaperReview Method: Peer ReviewedAbstract: This study examines the victim, situational, and offender lifestyle factors that are relevant to sexual assault outcomes, with respect to level of violence and sexual intrusiveness. This study will serve to determine what relationships exist and what factors interact to produce various offense outcomes. Sequential logistic regression analyses are conducted to evaluate the effects of assorted groups of related variables on sexual assault outcomes. Variables are entered into the regression analyses according to their chronological sequence within the criminal event. Thus, not only is each individual variable investigated to determine its importance within the sex crime event, but significant relationships between variables as the event unfolds are uncovered as well. This will help to determine at what point particular variables are important and at what point other variables take precedence with respect to offense outcomes. The main source of practical applicability of this study is in terms of secondary prevention, or harm reduction. Thus, while all sexual assaults cannot be prevented, the incidence of those resulting in the most serious outcomes might be able to be reduced if the results of the current study can be disseminated and utilized in the advancement of current public policy measures.

Publication Type: PosterReview Method: Peer ReviewedAbstract: Both childhood sexual abuse and college sexual assault are under-reported crimes that are not rare occurrences for women and men. While campuses struggle to understand the depth of the issue and meet Title IX requirements, campus climate studies are popping up all over. What is interesting is that research often reports lifetime prevalence of sexual victimization for students but are only asking about sexual assault not childhood sexual abuse. This research project compares reports of victimization from the Koss’ Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss, Gidycz & Wisniewsky, 1987) with sexual victimization reported on the Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS; Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995). Over 750 students enrolled in Introductory Criminal Justice in the 2015-2016 school year completed these measures. Participants were ethnically diverse and 40% were male. Prior research at this Southwestern University has shown high rates of sexual assault (e.g., 27.8% of female students, 5.3% of male students; Kennedy, Dooley, Taylor, 2010). This research will build on these findings by looking at earlier sexual victimization to see if it is fair to explain sexual victimization only using the SES measure.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished ManuscriptReview Method: Peer ReviewedAbstract: The current study is a quantitative content analysis examining media coverage of sexual assault on US college campuses. In particular, we focus on the language that journalists employ to tell these stories and assign attribution of sexual assault to the people involved. Drawing on two different theoretical perspectives, Attribution Theory and Media Framing, we analyze how frequently the language in news stories on sexual assault implicitly assign attribution (or minimize attribution) to either the victim or perpetrator in sexual assault cases.